Hukou intermarriage and social exclusion in China

Abstract

is a key marker of status in contemporary China. Urban status confers large economic benefits such as preferential access to good schools, prestigious occupations, and state-subsidized welfare benefits. As such, trends in intermarriage convey important but underappreciated information about social mobility in China. This article examines trends in intermarriage between 1958 and 2008. We find that intermarriage is surprisingly common and has grown steadily since 1985. Hypotheses derived from Western contexts do little to explain this trend. Increased education, economic inequality, and availability each fail to explain trends as predicted in prior work. A common hypothesis is that increased inequality should reduce intermarriage by making it more costly to "marry down." We find the opposite-increasing inequality is associated with increasing intermarriage, particularly between urban men and rural women, which is consistent with the hypothesis that the costs of marrying down may be outweighed by the incentives to marry up in this context. Our results also suggest conversion plays a key role in increased intermarriage. These findings highlight the uniqueness of the Chinese context and suggest that standard hypotheses about assortative mating may not be applicable in contexts with strong state-controlled social boundaries.

Assortative Mating by Education andHukouin Shanghai

“…Indeed, we find evidence for market exchange rather than for the liberating effect of education on mate selection: With increases in their educational levels, migrants are more likely to form Hukou intermarriage but Shanghai Hukou residents are less likely to do so. Similarly, Wang and Schwartz (2015) examine intermarriage across Hukou types and find that compared with their less-educated counterparts, highly-educated rural women and men are more likely to marry an urban spouse whereas highly-educated urban men and women are less likely to intermarry. Thus, complementing previous research that emphasizes the role of Hukou type, the current study highlights the importance of Hukou locality in creating the social status hierarchy in urban China’s marriage market.…”

Marital Power in Inter-Hukou Families in China: An Intersectionality Approach

“…Status homogamy (in terms of individuals’ and their parents’ education, income, and hukou ) is prevalent in China, captured by the old saying that “wooden doors should match wooden doors, and bamboo doors with bamboo doors” (Yang, 1959, p. 29). Specific to hukou , research shows that the trend of inter- hukou marriage is increasing over time, despite it being rare (Lui, 2016; Y. Wang & Schwartz, 2015).…”

The Nonlinear Linkage Between Earnings Homogamy and Earnings Inequality Among Married Couples

“…China's mar ket-ori ented re form ac cel er ated the growth of its manufactur ing sec tor, which attracted many ru ral Chi nese res i dents to work in ur ban ar eas. The in ternal mi gra tion boom reshaped the ur ban mar riage mar ket (Wang and Schwartz 2018). Although mi grants are, on av er age, less ed u cat ed, mi grants with higher ed u ca tion have a greater chance of be ing in te grated into the ur ban mar riage mar ket (Qian and Qian 2017).…”